Found "Mystery" antenna on ground - usable?

Hi all,
I found an antenna on the sidewalk today. Here are two pictures of it:



I have no idea what it's from. Clearly it does not have a BNC connector that could attach directly to my Radio Shack scanner in place of the rubber ducky. What are those threads meant to thread into, and is there some sort of adapter so I can use it with my scanner, just for kicks? Or would that not be a worthwhile endeavor?

Thanks

Oops, looks like the sidewalk plow is missing its antenna.
Plumb it up to something, it might work, you never know.

looks like UHF band by thicknes and lenght.

Finch wrote:Hi all,
I found an antenna on the sidewalk today. Here are two pictures of it:



I have no idea what it's from. Clearly it does not have a BNC connector that could attach directly to my Radio Shack scanner in place of the rubber ducky. What are those threads meant to thread into, and is there some sort of adapter so I can use it with my scanner, just for kicks? Or would that not be a worthwhile endeavor?

Thanks

At what site are the photos posted? My employer's surveillance software pops up the inappropriate content screen. Never happened with any railroad.net link before.

I'll look from home.

From the apparent length of the antenna, looks like an old Lo Band (29.7-50.0MHz) portable radio antenna.

What is the actual length of the antenna?

Plumb it up to something, it might work, you never know.

At the risk of sounding dense (too late), what do you mean by "plumb it up?"

The photos are hosted at imageshack.us. It's a semi-cruddy site that I just dump random photos on to post to forums, so there are ads in the sidebar when you click to see the photo. Maybe that's an issue.

Actual length is 12 inches (12.25 including the threads at the base). It's about 0.5 inches thick at the base, 0.25 inches thick at the tip.

Thanks for the replies guys.

It's an antenna typically used on police type Motorola walkie-talkies. The male end screws into the female opening on top of the walkie. These antennas are routinely swapped out for a smaller (about 3") antenna for UHF operation as the smaller length is more comfortable to use.

CarterB wrote:From the apparent length of the antenna, looks like an old Lo Band (29.7-50.0MHz) portable radio antenna.

What is the actual length of the antenna?

Agreed. Looks too long for UHF.

I actually prefer the flexible full length. Those stubbies hurt the ribs.

Motorola installed similiar 6-5/8" long antennas, base to tip, for our radios. 460 MHz UHF band.

Finch wrote: At the risk of sounding dense (too late), what do you mean by "plumb it up?"

if you don't have a radio with the corresponding connector, fabricate some jumper cable and see if it will receive anything.

I see antenna like these all the time on heavy equipment, loader, backhoes, etc. I even see them on municipal vehicles that are equipped for 2 way communication.

At 12" length, and with the male screw pattern, it is almost definitely a Lo-Band portable radio antenna. Some gov't agencies still use lo-band but mostly they have migrated up to either VHF, UHF or digital 800MHz. A few construction companies and ham operators still use lo-band because of its superior outdoors transmit distance capabilities. Since antennas are 'matched' to the band width of the radio, "plumbing it up" won't do any good unless the radio is lo-band, and in fact, can actually fry the radio if it gets 'reflection' from the mismatch. I am a Motorola dealer, so take my advice for what it's worth.

sometimes something one gets free is worth exactly that, this looks like one of these times.... Best advice, put a $5 tag on it and take it to a flea market, .......remember what PT Barnum said.... Ed

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll probably hang on to it forever just because I can.